Recent Updates
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Court: Constitutional ban on high fines applies to states
Legal Outlook 02/16/2019The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Constitution's ban on excessive fines applies to the states, an outcome that could help efforts to rein in police seizure of property from criminal suspects.Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the ...
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Supreme Court blocks Louisiana abortion clinic law
Legal Outlook 02/08/2019A divided Supreme Court stopped Louisiana from enforcing new regulations on abortion clinics in a test of the conservative court's views on abortion rights.The justices said by a 5-4 vote late Thursday that they will not allow the state to put into e...
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Russian court sends Jehovah’s Witness to prison for 6 years
Legal Outlook 02/04/2019A regional court in western Russia on Wednesday sentenced a Danish Jehovah’s Witness to six years in prison, in arguably the most severe crackdown on religious freedom in Russia in recent years.The court in Oryol found Dennis Christensen guilty...
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Prominent Chinese rights lawyer tried in closed proceedings
Legal Outlook 12/26/2018The trial of a prominent human rights lawyer began in northern China on Wednesday with about two dozen plainclothes officers stationed outside a courthouse and at least one supporter taken away by police.Reporters, foreign diplomats and supporters we...
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Mississippi chief justice: Time for another to lead court
Legal Outlook 12/25/2018After 21 years on the Mississippi Supreme Court and 10 years as chief justice, Bill Waller Jr. says it's time for someone else to take the helm.Waller's court has at times questioned problems with forensic evidence, but passed when asked to rule on t...
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Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow asylum ban
Legal Outlook 12/14/2018The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow enforcement of a ban on asylum for any immigrants who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.Two federal courts have temporarily blocked the policy President Donald Trump announced in Nove...
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Supreme Court hopeful had DWI charge in 2009
Legal Outlook 10/20/2018A candidate for the North Carolina Supreme Court pleaded guilty more than nine years ago to trespassing and driving while impaired.The Charlotte Observer reports Republican Chris Anglin was stopped by police in Greensboro in January 2009 and charged ...
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Lawyers will seek to shift blame for warehouse fire at trial
Legal Outlook 08/19/2018Lawyers for the two men charged in the Northern California warehouse fire that killed 36 people said Friday they are now preparing for a trial where they will try to shift blame for the blaze from their clients to others, including the building's own...
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Court questions whether Maine has money to expand Medicaid
Legal Outlook 07/19/2018Maine's high court is weighing whether to allow the LePage administration to continue to block federal funding for voter-approved Medicaid expansion. Justices on Wednesday heard the administration's arguments against a court order r...
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The Latest: Trump promises 'great' pick for Supreme Court
Legal Outlook 07/05/2018President Donald Trump is promising to select a "great" Supreme Court nominee to fill the vacancy of retiring Justice Anthony KennedyThe president said Tuesday at a "Salute to Service" dinner in West Virginia that he "hit a home run" with Justice Nei...
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Police shooting of boy spurs more protests, appeals
Legal Outlook 06/22/2018Protesters demonstrated Friday for a third day over the fatal police shooting in Pennsylvania of an unarmed black teen fleeing a traffic stop as they sought to get the attention of a nation engrossed by the immigration debate, and to pressure officia...
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Gamers in court for first time after Kansas 'swatting' death
Legal Outlook 06/16/2018Two online gamers whose alleged dispute over a $1.50 Call of Duty WWII video game bet ultimately led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man not involved in the argument will make their first appearances in court Wednesday in a case of "swatting" that h...